amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science

Right but how do you help someone take some concrete, easy step to achieve that deficit?

- what is easiest method- how to encourage someone (who is not yourself) to actually follow through and do that easy method

amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science

everything wrote:Right but how do you help someone take some concrete, easy step to achieve that deficit?

- what is easiest method- how to encourage someone (who is not yourself) to actually follow through and do that easy method

Calorie deficit is the most important, in your scenario.

What are your challenges in following the calorie deficit based on your likes? It depends on your personal challenges, then I can give more opinions/tips. Different people have different motivations and challenges.

Last edited by marvin8 on Tue Jul 25, 2017 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well let's say the other person is me as an example (it's not, but this will work fine). I would like to lose 5 pounds, maybe more, but 5 is sufficient.

- I already reduced alcohol, junk, high glycemic carbs, added veggies, some resistance training.- some opportunities for improvement: eliminate sugar and hidden sugar. smaller portions. stop eating after 8:00 (instead of 9 or 10 or 11). eat better, bigger breakfast. sleep more. (exercise more is mostly out of the question at the moment due to temporary injury rehab, but time of day could be adjusted). out of those opportunities, what would you advise me to do in what order? something else?

btw I probably have the discipline to do any changes, but what about "normal" people with "normal" discipline? what would you tell them to do? I think it's very, very difficult, otherwise there wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar weight loss "industry" where the problem is seemingly never solved (and hence there are always customers).

amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science

everything wrote:Well let's say the other person is me as an example (it's not, but this will work fine). I would like to lose 5 pounds, maybe more, but 5 is sufficient.

- I already reduced alcohol, junk, high glycemic carbs, added veggies, some resistance training.- some opportunities for improvement: eliminate sugar and hidden sugar. smaller portions. stop eating after 8:00 (instead of 9 or 10 or 11). eat better, bigger breakfast. sleep more. (exercise more is mostly out of the question at the moment due to temporary injury rehab, but time of day could be adjusted). out of those opportunities, what would you advise me to do in what order? something else?

It's all about calorie deficit. Whatever is most comfortable for you to achieve the calorie deficit. You said you may be eating too much sugar. Substitute sugar with stevia or other less-caloric sweeteners. Time of day eating is not as important as overall calories in a day or averaged in say a week (e.g. intermittent fasting can be a strategy, etc.) Regarding alcohol, one tip is to switch to vodka as it is less carbs and calories per volume of alcohol.

everything wrote:btw I probably have the discipline to do any changes, but what about "normal" people with "normal" discipline? what would you tell them to do? I think it's very, very difficult, otherwise there wouldn't be the multi-billion dollar weight loss "industry" where the problem is seemingly never solved (and hence there are always customers).

The answer is simple calorie deficit. Again, everyone will have their own motivations and challenges. A successful program may include ways of tracking calories deficit, group support (e.g., interactive forum postings, challenges, money incentives, etc.), recipes that are appetizing & nutritious, directory of fast food or restaurants providing calorie relevant foods that fit into your overall calorie deficit program, etc.

Yes, I get the theory of calorie deficit. My question is how do you help another person who is trying to put theory into practice?

E.g., post your issue on a forum for accountability. Tell strangers on the internet "I'll lose x in y weeks" and you report back so you have some way to do it. Someone posted on one of the other threads to make a bet with someone so you will have to donate to some organization you hate if you do not come through with your action.

amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science

everything wrote:Yes, I get the theory of calorie deficit. My question is how do you help another person who is trying to put theory into practice?

E.g., post your issue on a forum for accountability. Tell strangers on the internet "I'll lose x in y weeks" and you report back so you have some way to do it. Someone posted on one of the other threads to make a bet with someone so you will have to donate to some organization you hate if you do not come through with your action.

Yes, that's what I said. All of the above. To be relevant to the masses, you should provide multiple ways.

amateur practices til gets right pro til can't get wrong/ better approx answer to right q than exact answer to wrong q which can be made precise /“most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. Source of all true art & science

It's all about calorie deficit. Whatever is most comfortable for you to achieve the calorie deficit.

Calories.. Lower calories...

...Sounds like you must count calories and that's in fact too complicated for most people. Most of people stop thinking about losing weight when they hear about calories. Yup, people are just plain lazy, too lazy to think or reason about things.

If you want people to lose weight, you need to make things extremely simple so they don't need to think. People don't like to change their life style, so they come up with all kind of excuses: "no I don't have the to count calories." But it is much more simple than that. You need to make it as simple as possible so they can't make excuses!

Basic program, for 90% of the people in the whole world, these steps should be quite enough to lose weight:

Step 1: Get rid of all soft drinks. Sugar or sugar-free doesn't matter. Don't drink anything but water to the meals and between them. Coffee and tea is ok, but no sweetener or cream.

Step 2: Eat less. Smaller portions, less often. Snack once or twice a day is ok, but no potato chips or similar. But sweet bread or a couple cookies is fine, and fruit of course.

Step 3: Varied food. Don't chose what to eat because of laziness or habit. Vary the food.

Step 4: Get used to go around a bit hungry. To eat less food or smaller portions, you won't get the same feeling of being full. If you can't stand being less stuffed, you won't lose weight. (I have gained weight the last year and all I can blame is too many business lunches. I eat too much, and that's all. I don't need to count calories or exercise more. All I need is to eat less, like I used to do.)

Step 5: Don't sit all of the day. You actually don't need a training program. Just make sure you don't sit all of the day, but walk around, ride a bike etc. Bringing movement into your everyday life is ten times more important than to schedule a training session a couple of times a week!

Training schedule and everything else is something you do if you can get away from having a not so healthy life style.

ONE big problem though in many countries is the common life style that people share. I know a guy who came here from Texas US. He lost a whole lot of weight in 6 month and become much more healthy than he was just by eating regularly what everyone else here eat. All he did was just eating the regular food that everyone else eat. Why he had become fat was because in his hometown, he ate what everyone else ate and what was available there. So sometimes, eating healthy meals or having a healthy life style is just not available where you live. The first and best solution if you want a long and healthy life is - move to a place where people are healthy and live long. If you can't move, you're still f-cked. Simple as that.

Last edited by Bao on Wed Jul 26, 2017 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

Thoughts on Tai Chi (My Tai Chi blog)- Storms make oaks take deeper root. -George Herbert- To affect the quality of the day, is the highest of all arts! -Walden Thoreau

Remember some of the ladies at an office I worked years ago, they often ate some tiny salad for lunch and cockies or cake with their afternoon coffee...they always discussed how difficult it was to lose weight

It's all about calorie deficit. Whatever is most comfortable for you to achieve the calorie deficit.

Calories.. Lower calories...

...Sounds like you must count calories and that's in fact too complicated for most people. Most of people stop thinking about losing weight when they hear about calories. Yup, people are just plain lazy, too lazy to think or reason about things.

You make a good point that some people don't like to count and are lazy. The easier you make things for them, the better.

What is your opinion, if there was a program (maybe app) where you input your weight, how much you want to lose, and within how many months. The program (app) will then calculate your calorie deficit needs and provide loads of meal plans, meals, recipes, videos, etc. Doing most of the work for you. Do you think people would be interested?

I'll have to research current meal planning apps on the market. This would be similar to the two following programs, but better. I haven't done much research, just some thoughts I had.